In a recent interview, Ellen DeGeneres spoke openly about the alleged sexual abuse she allegedly experienced as a teenager. DeGeneres claims her stepfather sexually raped her in an interview with David Letterman for the upcoming second season of Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which debuts May 31.
In the episode, DeGeneres tells Letterman, “It’s a very horrific, horrible story and the only reason I’m actually going into detail about it is that I want other ladies to not, you know, ever let someone do that.
DeGeneres says, “My mother had breast cancer shortly after they got married. They had a very, very sexual relationship after she had a breast removed, which was also quite uncomfortable for me. He also admitted to me that he had discovered a lump in her breast while she was away and that he wanted to feel my breasts in order to avoid upsetting her.
According to DeGeneres, her stepfather repeatedly persuaded her that he needed to feel her breasts. At one point, she says, “he tried to break down my door, and I kicked the glass out and escaped because I knew it was going to do—it was going to go more to something. Because I was trying to keep my mother happy and because I was doing so, I didn’t want to tell her.
DeGeneres claims that after a period of time, she told her mother what had happened. Nevertheless, she claims that at the time, her mother didn’t believe her and continued to live with her stepfather for an additional 18 years. He eventually lost her mother, according to DeGeneres, “because he’d revised the tale so many times.”
What most women do, according to DeGeneres, is just not feel like they have a voice. This is the first time I’ve ever discussed this with someone other than my buddies, and that’s the only reason. Simply put, we don’t think we’re deserving, or we’re afraid to speak up and refuse. Particularly now, when I see individuals speaking out, it enrages me when victims aren’t believed because we simply don’t make things up. And although I enjoy males, so many of them get away with so much. It is simply time for us to speak up. This is the time for us to gain control.